Cristiano Ronaldo: The Player Too Big to Ban
How FIFA’s leniency exposes a gap between the rules of the game and the power of the game’s biggest stars.
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Originally posted on Original Football
Now and then, Football (soccer) forces us into contradictions, and Cristiano Ronaldo’s recent case is an example of that.
For those who haven’t paid attention, he was sent off against the Republic of Ireland in a World Cup qualifier in November after catching Dara O’Shea with an arm while challenging for position. It was a moment that looked more reckless than malicious, but under the current regulations, a dismissal like that triggers a suspension of multiple matches across competitive fixtures.
However, what followed was anything but standard. FIFA issued Ronaldo a one-match ban, which he served immediately, and then suspended the remaining two games of the sanction on a twelve-month probation. As long as he avoids another offence, he is free to start the group games at the 2026 World Cup.
The official explanation referenced Ronaldo’s extraordinary disciplinary record for Portugal, noting that this was his first red card in more than two hundred international appearances. And that’s the bit that’s hard to swallow.
The Armenian captain, Tigran Barseghyan, who was also sent off against Ireland for violent conduct, hasn’t been awarded the same support, and it was the first red card of his international career. In addition, Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi, Ecuador’s Moises Caicedo and Qatar’s Tarek Salman will all miss at least one game of the World Cup due to suspension.
I don’t believe anybody truly believes this decision would have been reached for Ronaldo if he didn’t have his global icon status.
As a football fan, I want Ronaldo there as this is his final World Cup, and who knows if there will ever be another era where two players dominate elite football and global culture as he and Messi have. Seeing them on the biggest stage one last time is something future generations will envy us for, and once they retire, the era ends. That is a powerful emotional pull, and it feels like the World Cup owes us that final chapter.
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But football can’t operate on favouritism; it has to operate on fairness because that’s the essence of competitive competition. It’s about everyone getting a fair shot and the cream rising to the top. There is a reason why players are punished for violent conduct even when the act doesn’t change the result of the match. Behaviour has consequences, and competition depends on those consequences being the same for everyone.
Imagine Portugal winning their first two group matches by a single goal, and Ronaldo scores both. Their path through the tournament is shaped directly by a player who, by established disciplinary standards, should have been watching from the stands. If that campaign eventually leads to a World Cup victory, is there genuinely no asterisk over the win? Those who claim “it is only the group stage” are ignoring the fundamental truth that every match in a tournament counts towards the final outcome.
Selective leniency doesn’t just help Portugal; it hurts others. Smaller nations rarely feel the benefit of global sympathy, and their players don’t get reputation-based benefits. Fairness is not fairness if it dissolves in the presence of a superstar, especially when we’ve seen him at the Whitehouse with the FIFA president recently. The optics of this are really bad.
I must include, the decision was made by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, who are an independent organisation, but still, I don’t think that changes the optics of it all.
The frustrating part is that everyone knows what is actually going on. Television audiences matter, advertising money matters, and Ronaldo remains one of football’s most marketable figures, so losing him for any part of the World Cup would reduce interest, reduce revenue and reduce global engagement, especially in the USA market, where football needs all the help it can get, domesticallys.
Supporters have always accepted that football involves commercial considerations, but what we shouldn’t accept is when those considerations override the principles that make the sport worth caring about. Trust erodes when the laws appear optional for some and rigid for others.
And this is where I sit in the middle of that contradiction. The part of me that understands what’s about to end, and wants to see Ronaldo take on the world one final time. Running parallel with the part that respects sporting competition, and wants fairness and consistency. Football’s beauty comes from the belief that anything can happen and everybody gets a fair shot. Football’s integrity comes from the idea that everyone plays under the same rules for that belief to hold meaning.
The World Cup needs Cristiano Ronaldo, but Portugal is more than capable of earning a couple of results without him, if it protects the integrity of the competition. The tournament is stronger with its biggest stars, but it only means something if the rules apply to everyone.
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